James McAvoy to play "Frankenstein"?

July 26th, 2013

James McAvoy is in negotiations to play Victor Von Frankenstein.

The 34-year-old actor - known for playing Professor X in 'X-Men: First Class' - is close to signing a deal with 20th Century Fox which will see him land the lead role in a remake of Mary Shelley's classic Gothic novel 'Frankenstein', according to Deadline.

McAvoy would join an already star-studded cast, starring alongside Daniel Radcliffe, who has been locked in to play Frankenstein's assistant, Igor.

The story follows eccentric scientist Victor Frankenstein, who creates a monstrous creature - named Fitz - in an unconventional scientific experiment, but after he rejects the artificial man he's just produced, the unnatural being escapes and seeks revenge.

'Pacific Rim' director Guillermo del Toro has had his own version of the novel in development for a while but it never took off, and now Paul McGuigan is set to try his hand at the production, which will be based on a script by 'Chronicle' writer Max Landis.

Landis said previously: ''I began to pick apart our knowledge of Frankenstein and discovered that the public's idea of this myth comes from a million different places.

''I became committed to re-contextualising it all so it all worked in one story. By the end of the day, it's a period piece and yes, it's from [Hunchback's] perspective, but man it's cool. It's the best thing I've written.''